[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

March 10



SOUTH AFRICA:

'Retry death row prisoners'


Prisoners sentenced to death before the death penalty was abolished should
be given a fresh trial and a new sentence, the Constitutional Court in
Johannesburg heard on Thursday.

"Since the death penalty was declared unconstitutional in June 1995, a
death sentence ceased to have any legal effect," said advocate Frank
Snyckers, arguing on behalf of four death row prisoners.

"Therefore no sentences are imposed on these people, therefore we need to
have sentences and the only way to do so, is to have a trial in terms of
the (Criminal Procedure) Act.

Snyckers said: "We need to create a practical mechanisms to put these
people back in the system."

The Constitutional Court found the death penalty to be unconstitutional as
it violated the right to life and was cruel, inhuman and degrading.

Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson commented that it was intolerable that
imprisonment on death row should have been allowed to continue for so long
after sentence was scrapped 10 years ago.

"There are still over 100 people who do not know what their position is,"
Chaskalson said.

The State estimated that about 134 prisoners were still on death row.

(source: News 24)